Launched with considerable fanfare last fall in the wake of the box office success ofThink Like a Man (the film based on his best selling relationship book), Steve Harvey was anything but a surefire bet to be a hit with daytime TV audiences.

But Harvey’s brand of no-nonsense humor has appeared to win over audiences (it was the ranked second among syndicated talk shows in 2012) and the executives at NBCUniversal and Endemol USA who produced a financed it.

“This project was a long time in the making and it would not have been possible without the incredibly talented Steve Harvey,” David Goldberg, Endemol’s North America Chairman, said in a press release. “His humor, honesty and insight were an immediate hit with the daytime audience.”

“The instant success of Steve Harvey with the daytime audience is being greeted with long-term commitments from our station partners,” added NBCU Domestic TV Distribution president Barry Wallach.

Harvey also has continued to host the game show Family Feud and according to Huffington Post there has been a “50 percent spike in their viewership” for that program in just the last year.